Easter, a day known for celebrating resurrection and life, became a day of tragedy when a Russellville man was killed in an industrial accident at Arkansas Nuclear One on Sunday morning.

Wade Walters, 24, of Russellville died after a generator stator fell from a lifting device in the Unit 1 turbine building at the plant.

According to Donna Gregory, communications specialist at ANO, eight other workers were injured and transported to Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center. Seven of the injured were treated and released as of late Monday afternoon, and one remained hospitalized. Gregory did not know any details about the condition of the hospitalized worker. Sarah Millard, the joint information center manager at the plant, said there was no risk of further fatalities due to injuries sustained from the accident.

According to Gregory, an accident of this magnitude had never occurred at the plant before, and she said there has never been a fatality at the plant due to a work-related incident before Sunday.

Gregory said ANO has made grief counselors available for employees.

Friends and loved ones took to social media Sunday and Monday to pay their respects to Walters, remembering the Arkansas River Valley native and Pottsville High School graduate.

“He was real quiet and solemn,” said Logan Hughes, a family member. “He wasn’t an unhappy person, he was always happy, he just wasn’t really excitable about anything. He was pretty level-headed. He just kept to himself a lot.”

Hughes said Wade worked outages at plants throughout the South.

“I never really knew where he was one job to the next,” he said. “We expected Wade to be here as long as this generation of cousins. There’s two things in life that he was all about, working out and his family — his girlfriend in particular. I know she’s taking it real hard. It’s tough on her because she’s got a lot of unanswered questions.”